{ "abstract": "Central nervous system mechanisms contribute to non-specific low back pain (LBP), with widespread alterations in brain function and structure reported. It remains unclear how these alterations propagate to brain network topology and structure-function coupling. In this cross-sectional study, 282 participants with non-specific LBP (mean ± standard deviation, pain intensity 4.3 ± 1.7 [0-10 numerical rating scale]; current pain duration 54 ± 105 weeks) and 71 pain-free controls underwent resting-state functional and diffusion-weighted MRI to derive functional and structural connectomes. Subgroups were analyzed by pain status during scanning and pain duration. The main graph-theory analysis revealed that participants with non-specific LBP had lower segregation (d = 0.39-0.45, P = 0.009-0.019) in the whole-brain functional network and higher integration (d = 0.30-0.38, P = 0.005-0.027) in the functional ventral attention network. Subgroup analysis showed that participants with chronic non-specific LBP had lower segregation (d = 0.48, P = 0.002) and higher integration (d = 0.45, P = 0.004) within the structural default mode network. By modeling functional connectivity using structural communication predictors in a multivariable linear regression, we identified structure-function decoupling in participants with non-specific LBP across the whole-brain (d = 0.25-0.28, P = 0.026-0.041), ventral attention (d = 0.28-0.32, P = 0.005-0.048), and default mode network (d = 0.22-0.24, P = 0.031-0.046), alongside complex regional patterns of both decoupling and hypercoupling. Explorative partial correlation analyses associated disability, rather than pain intensity, with differences in brain network topology and structure-function decoupling. These findings advance the mechanistic understanding of the severity and persistence of non-specific LBP, showing disrupted bottom-up attentional processing and self-referential circuitry, resulting in large-scale structure-function decoupling.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Ruhr University Bochum, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Department of Neurology, Bochum, Germany.", "Fachbereich Pflege-, Hebammen- und Therapiewissenschaften (PHT), Hochschule Bochum, Bochum, Germany.", "Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany.", "Sir Peter Rigby Digital Futures Institute, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom.", "Bergisches Rheuma-Zentrum, Krankenhaus St Josef, Wuppertal, Germany.", "Ruhr University Bochum, Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Bochum, Germany.", "School of Medicine and Psychology, College of Health and Medicine, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.", "School of Information Technology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.", "Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.", "Eastern Health Emergency Medicine Program, Melbourne, Australia.", "Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.", "Ruhr University Bochum, St. Josef-Hospital, Katholisches Klinikum Bochum, Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, Bochum, Germany.", "The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Orygen, Parkville, Australia.", "Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.", "Bone and Joint Research Laboratory, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.", "Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Canada.", "Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.", "Spine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.", "Pain in Motion International Research Consortium, Brussels, Belgium.", "Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, Ulm University Medical Centre, Ulm, Germany.", "Department of Information Technology, FH Dortmund, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund, Germany.", "Ruhr University Bochum, St. Josef-Hospital, University Hospital of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Bochum, Germany." ], "article_type": "research article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 19, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Lionel Butry", "orcid": "0009-0008-3973-186X" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Frederick Junker", "orcid": "0000-0002-0412-0291" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Sam Vickery", "orcid": "0000-0001-6732-7014" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Daniel L Belavy", "orcid": "0000-0002-9307-832X" }, { "affs": [ 1, 2 ], "name": "Rebekka Döding", "orcid": "0009-0003-5114-6149" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Katja Ehrenbrusthoff", "orcid": "0000-0003-1667-8943" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Maia Angelova", "orcid": "0000-0002-0931-0916" }, { "affs": [ 4, 5 ], "name": "Bjoern Buehring", "orcid": "0000-0003-3841-624X" }, { "affs": [ 6 ], "name": "Bernadette Fitzgibbon", "orcid": "0000-0002-5339-5304" }, { "affs": [ 7 ], "name": "Chandan Karmakar", "orcid": "0000-0003-1814-0856" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Clint T Miller", "orcid": "0000-0001-7743-6986" }, { "affs": [ 9, 10 ], "name": "Patrick J Owen", "orcid": "0000-0003-3924-9375" }, { "affs": [ 11 ], "name": "Tobias L Schulte" }, { "affs": [ 12, 13 ], "name": "Scott D Tagliaferri", "orcid": "0000-0003-3669-4131" }, { "affs": [ 14, 15, 16 ], "name": "Guy Trudel" }, { "affs": [ 17, 18 ], "name": "Jessica Van Oosterwijck", "orcid": "0000-0002-8946-4383" }, { "affs": [ 19 ], "name": "Hans-Joachim Wilke", "orcid": "0000-0001-6007-8844" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Elena K Enax-Krumova", "orcid": "0000-0002-6162-9414" }, { "affs": [ 0, 20, 21 ], "name": "Lara Schlaffke", "orcid": "0000-0002-0716-3780" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arjw11mvtvz3k.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1162/imag.a.1412", "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13710934", "id": "arjw11mvtvz3k", "issns": [ "2837-6056" ], "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948267", "language": "eng", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "heading", "Research Article" ], [ "openalex", "2805|Functional Brain Connectivity Studies" ] ], "openalex": "W7214981253", "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13710934?pdf=render", "pmcid": "PMC13710934", "pmid": "42948267", "published": "2026-10-26", "publisher": "MIT Press", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arjw11mvtvz3k.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-31T00:20:34Z", "native_id": "MED:42948267", "source": "europepmc", "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948267" }, { "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:48Z", "native_id": "PMC13710934", "source": "pmc", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1412" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "openalex:2805|Functional Brain Connectivity Studies", "subfield": "neuroscience" } ], "title": "Disrupted brain network topology and structure-function coupling in non-specific low back pain.", "title_text": "Disrupted brain network topology and structure-function coupling in non-specific low back pain.", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:21:48Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arjw11mvtvz3k", "venue": "Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)", "versions": [] }